Last edited 28-11-2003 ©The Sounding Burrows
May 17 2002
Well, we are waiting no longer. It was already clear that she would have pups, since she gained almost 4 kilo's in weight (from 7.8 kilo to 11.7) and the vet felt six "bumps" (d.i. potential pups) when she was in her fourth week. At day 64 Fescue started labour at 21:13 hour (May 17 2002) and 9 minutes later the first pup is there. A black male, 275 gram. Very lively. He is followed by another black male at 22:40, also 275 gram. Also very lively. The third pup is also black ánd male, 275 gram, lively and born so smoothly I hardly noticed anything happening. This happened at 23:36 hour. At 00:20 the fourth pup, male, but red this time, is born. The first three came head first, he presents us his hindlegs, trashing and moving wildly already before being completely born. He came out in a minute and a half, very, very lively and big: 290 gram. He knows what he wants and moves fast to get the best nipple. I suspect there is another pup inside, but Fescue is tired. She has done everything very well, caring for the pups, friendly to us (but not really needing us) and now she just wants to focus her attention on the pups at hand. I doze off for about half an hour, my hand still on her backhand, because I was checking if there would be another pup. I wake up with a start and find another black male pup, 275 gram, well taken care off, but unfortunately dead. I try to revive him, but to no avail. Though I regret the lost pup, I am very proud of Fescue, she has done really well, and she shows herself to be an excellent mother.May 18 2002
The pups now weigh :* pup 1 : 260 gram
* pup 2 : 270 gram
* pup 3 : 250 gram
* pup 4 : 280 gram
Ca 01:30 hour. Four pups have been born, everything is still wet and Fescue is enjoying the new arrivals.
I have tried to clean things up a bit. You can see Fescue is tired by now.
Fescue in the morning, a proud mother enjoying her pups. Everybody is now completely dried (everytime Fescue had cleaned the pups that were born, they were washed over by the water from the newborn, leaving her to start all over again - we gladly helped her though) they have all suckled and Fescue has eaten a little.
I have tried to take pictures of the individual pups, but with such an attentive mother it's not easy to get them on their own ...
So far two pups were willing to have their picture taken:
"Big Red" as he is nicknamed, since he is the biggest pup in the litter, at three days old, refused to show me his face and set out to find his mom.
He found mom. You can see his nose is still pink. And on the previous picture the pink underside of one of his feet is showing.
At five days old he is already lifting his head. He is very quiet, but when he wants something he is going to get is. No whining, but action! Left of him "Pup 3" is sleeping. The white dot on his shoulder is my mark. At five days old, Big Red's feet and nose are already darkening.
Pup Three, creeping up to me as I try to get his lovely face on the picture.
Pup Three: mom is coming to get him
Still Pup Three.
Everybody starts suckling again, so I won't disturb them.
Here it goes on
Week 1|Week 2|Week 3| Week 4|Week 5&6|Week 7| Week 8|Week 9
3 Months 6 Months|Pupoverview
